Evaluating Drainage
Knowing your type of soil helps you determine how well water will drain through it. Certain plants, such as lavender, need soil that drains quickly to thrive, while other plants, such as willows, can survive and flourish in wet soils.
Sometimes drainage is obvious. Puddles in your lawn a day or two after heavy rains certainly indicate poor drainage. But, sometimes a layer of clay lurks underneath a loamy or sandy soil, which causes water to linger in otherwise well-drained soil. So, before you plant — especially trees and shrubs — dig a hole to check what lies beneath the surface.
Here’s how to check for percolation, or soil drainage:
- Dig a hole 1 foot in diameter and 1 foot deep
- Fill the hole with water.
- Time how long it takes for the water to drain.
If the water drains in - 10 minutes or less, your soil drains too fast and probably dries out too quickly.
- 10 to 30 minutes, your soil is well-drained.
- Less than 4 hours, the drainage is okay for most plants.
- More than 4 hours, the soil is poorly drained.
Use this information to help choose the most appropriate plants for your soil. Keep in mind that adding organic matter, such as compost, to the soil can improve the drainage of both sandy and clayey soils.
Finding Soil pH and Nutrient Content
After you know the type of soil you have and how well it drains (see the previous section), you need to know its pH and nutrient levels. The soil pH measures the alkalinity (sweetness) or acidity (sourness) of the soil.
Soil is acidic if it’s below pH 7 on a scale from 0 to 14 and alkaline if it’s above pH 7. Knowing your soil’s pH is important because some nutrients are available to plants only within a specific pH range. Most plants prefer soil that’s between pH 6.0 and 7.0.
A simple rule is that if your plants are growing, flowering, and fruiting well, the levels of nutrients your plants need are fine. If you’re just starting out or if you aren’t satisfied with the growth of your plants, a little testing can help you get to the root of the matter. Too high or too low pH or unbalanced nutrient levels can result in yellow, stunted, and unproductive plants. Unhealthy plants are more prone to insects and disease attacks, which translates into more work for you and less satisfaction from your garden. And that’s not what you want!
Using a home soil test kit is simple and gives you a basic pH reading and an estimation of the major nutrients in your soil. You can buy a range of test kits at nurseries and garden centers. The more sophisticated tests cost more but give you more accurate results.
You can also send a soil sample to a lab for testing. ....read more
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